CHAPTER X
SUTTON COURTNEY—LONG WITTENHAM—LITTLE WITTENHAM—CLIFTON HAMPDEN—DAY’S LOCK AND SINODUN
A group of rustic villages nestles undisturbed by any press of traffic on the right, or Berkshire, bank of the river: Drayton, Sutton Courtney, and Appleford; with Steventon and Milton away back in the hinterland, all very charming, and wholly unaltered. At Steventon are to be found the most delightful old cottages. There are no better in Berkshire. This is a sweeping statement, but true. The proof of it lies partly in visiting that coy spot: coy, because the said cottages lie off the high road along the by-lane known as Steventon Causeway.
One might say much about Sutton Courtney, the “south town” of the Courtneys, who owned it in the long ago, with Nuneham Courtney, to the north of it. Here is an “Abbey,” but it is in private occupation as a residence, and is not a show-house; and very much the same may be added of the old manor-house and its “Court House,” adjoining the church. The “Abbey” was really a place to which the brethren of the Abbey of Abingdon might occasionally retire for rest and for health’s sake.
SUTTON COURTNEY CHURCH.